An aspirant's several years search for Allah, made possible by His grace/mercy ,and not through any efforts of the seeker

Saturday, April 2, 2016

205. ST.
Catherine of Siena. Part ten

I was describing the miracles of multiplication of edibles.

She stayed in Rome in
a house with her followers and a group of followers of God whom the Pope had
summoned to Rome on Catherine’s suggestion. She had also extended her
hospitality to them. There was not a cache of staples of food. All food had to
be begged. Sometimes holy virgin also went for begging. At that time there were
sixteen men and eight women living with her in that house. She had such trust
in Lord that it did not worry her that from where will the foods for everybody
come? Catherine had passed the order that each woman should for one week be
responsible for household affairs so that the rest could pursue the things
related to God or go for pilgrimage of sites in Rome. If there was a shortage
of foodstuff this woman was supposed to tell Catherine one day in advance so
that she should send somebody for begging or go herself. There came a week when this responsibility
fell on Giovanna’s shoulders. Giovanna was a sister of Penance who was from
Siena and had accompanied St Catherine on this journey. As it happened,
Giovanna forgot this instruction. One evening, there was not enough bread in
the bin for four people. When Giovanna realized the enormity of the problem she
went to holy virgin. She was very embarrassed and ashamed.Catherine scolded her mildly. Then she told
her to ask everybody to sit at the dinner table and serve whatever bread they
had. Giovanna said there was not enough bread for 4-5 people. Nevertheless she
followed the holy virgin’s instructions. Meanwhile Catherine went to a secluded
place and started praying fervently.

All these hungry persons started eating with the one small
loaf they had. To everybody’s amazement each person’s loaf never finished! Even
when everybody had eaten their full, bread remained. At Catherine’s orders it
was distributed to the poor. They burst out singing the praises of the Lord.

Another similar miracle was described to Raymond by Giovanna
and Lisa (sister in law of Catherine, who was also a Dominican nun). This
happened in the week of Lent, in the same year, and in the same house.

In 1375, in Pisa, Catherine became extremely weak. Raymond
thought she was going to die. Catherine would not take anything internally such
as milk, eggs, meat, sugar water, etc. Raymond recollected that a certain wine
called vernaccia, if rubbed on wrists and temples is helpful in such a
situation. A friend, Gherado’s, knew of a person who had a bottle of vernaccia.
The person said he would willingly have given a barrel of vernaccia, but
the barrel had been empty for three months. They went to the barrel and one
could readily see that it had been empty for some time. To make sure, the owner
pulled the spigot out.As the bung was
pulled out, a generous amount of vernaccia gushed out and gathered on
the floor. The owner gathered everybody who lived in the house and asked them
if anybody amongst them had put wine in the barrel.All of them denied it and stated that nobody
could put wine in the barrel without their knowledge. The news spread in the
neighborhood like wild fire. Everybody acknowledged that it was a miracle of
God.

A strange twist occurred due to Catherine’s prayer.

A few days after the incident Catherine recovered and went
into the city to see somebody. As soon as the news of her arrival spread people
gathered. Shopkeepers closed their shops to see this woman who could fill an empty
flask with wine. When holy virgin learnt the cause of this hubbub, she became
quite upset. She implored the Lord, “All your other servants can live amongst
people but not I. ……..By your infinite mercy I beg you to have pity on me and
dry up all the wine.”

A second miracle, even greater than the first happened, wine
went as sour as vinegar!

There has been lot of discussion about these miracles
amongst people living at that time and between scholars over the centuries.
Some even thought that these were Satan’s doing; an optical illusion, that is
why wine could not stay as wine. Raymond had the following interpretation: Both
miracles were the work of Lord. Catherine was not involved in the first. She
even did not know about the first miracle. Lord wanted to show by the filling
of the barrel that He cared for the holy virgin, because with that miracle
people will praise her and realize her worth with the Lord. Lord produced the
wine to cure her. By the second miracle He showed how much He cared for her
wishes and desires. He accepted her profound humility.